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Thursday, 8 March 2012

Happiness: it’s not in the jeans

How many times have you got up in the morning and wondered what you were going to wear? Do you choose something based on how you feel? Or do you just throw something on without much thought? According to a recent study conducted by Professor Karen Pine, a woman’s choice of clothing is heavily dependent on her emotional state.

One hundred women were asked what they wore when feeling depressed and more than half of them said jeans - that staple item of casual wear in almost everyone’s wardrobe. Only a third would wear jeans when feeling happy. On the other hand, women revealed that they would be ten times more likely to put on a favourite dress when happy then when depressed.

However, jeans don’t suit everyone. They are often poorly cut and badly fitting, and can indicate that the wearer isn’t bothered with their appearance. People who are depressed often lose interest in how they look, so the correlation between depression and wearing jeans is understandable. On the contrary, ‘happy’ clothes (ones that made women feel good) are well-cut, figure enhancing, and made from bright and beautiful fabrics.

Many of the women in the study felt that they could alter their mood by changing what they wore - demonstrating the psychological power of clothing and how the right choices can influence a person’s happiness. So wear clothes that you associate with happiness, even when feeling low.